Whyalla desalination plant now operational

A desalination plant is now operational at OneSteel at Whyalla in South Australia.

The company says the plant will reduce reliance on water from the Murray.

The reverse osmosis plant will supply 1.5 gigalitres of fresh water annually.

Matthew Reed from OneSteel says discharge of brine into Spencer Gulf will be minimal.

"Our plant discharges into our existing pelletising pond water system, so then it's mixed and diluted significantly prior to entering the Gulf, so we're not expecting any impact on the Gulf, certainly negligible impact," he said.

"In FY (financial year) '10, we used 6.1 gigalitres of fresh water, which was down from about 6. in FY '08, so this represents an opportunity to further reduce fresh water consumption."